The Beer Road

American Craft Beer Week, which officially began today, both celebrates the current culture surrounding craft beer in the country as well as commemorates it.  As with any event such as this, it is a chance to live in the moment as well as reflect on the past.  While many will celebrate this week with their attention fully wrapped around the former, whether by visiting the latest brewery to open in one’s area, or maybe by trying that newest release they’ve been on the edge of their seat for, personally, I always seem to have a soft spot for the latter, in the a spirit of reflection.  After all, most anyone will agree that it’s important to look back occasionally, no matter what the circumstances, to honor the choices you’ve made – the ones that worked out at least – and to revel a little in the soft, warm glow of nostalgia.  (And if that doesn’t work, you can revel in the glow that a nice tripel often has when you hold it up to a light.  Am I the only one that gets lost in that kind of stuff?)  Nevertheless, I also enjoy the latest brewery news and releases as much as anyone.  So, it is with a little reflection that I take a look at a couple beers that helped get us to where we are today and also call out a couple recent releases that are pushing us into the future – and by “us” I mean that we’re keeping focus squarely within the borders of the Commonwealth.  I’d say there’s plenty going on right here in Virginia to celebrate, and commemorate, American Craft Beer Week.

Looking back:  Blue Mountain’s Full Nelson Pale Ale.

Back when I still couldn’t quite figure out exactly what flavors I was enjoying in beers that were “hoppy”, or at least “hoppier” than anything I had drank before, Full Nelson both helped define what I was beginning to care for, and helped steer my choices.  It remains a favorite to today, and as Virginia grows in craft beer credibility, is one of our most solid gold star beers.  Full Nelson combines ample grapefruit-rind bite and pine flavors, along with a slightly sweet delivery and rounded out mouthfeel to make for a kind of beer that often gets overlooked these days – something not too extreme, but with plenty of flavor.  If you perhaps haven’t tasted it yet, it’s fairly easy to find.  Better yet, if you happen to be craving a road trip soon, jump in the car and head to Nelson County and taste some fresh.

Looking forward:   Smartmouth Brewing’s Alter Ego Saison

In the interest of full disclosure, I have yet to sample this beer, so go ahead and tell me that I’m going out on a limb here.  But I have a feeling I’m not.  At the very least, there’s something to be said for a brewery that opens up, as Smartmouth did in late 2012, with three beer offerings, and one is a Saison.  With distribution that currently, and understandably, only makes the rounds in the Portsmouth, Norfolk, Suffolk, Williamsburg and the like, it may take a short while to get a taste of this one – but comments on the two sites ratebeer.com and beeradvocate.com have folks pretty impressed.  Fruity, citrusy, grassy, dry, slightly peppery all are common adjectives – a touch of funkiness is even noted.

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American Craft Beer Week is just around the corner (May 13 through 19), and a few events are beginning to take shape in Roanoke to help celebrate the occasion.  Local Roots Restaurant is holding three separate events during the week, starting with a Devils Backbone night on Tuesday.  The first 25 guests receive brewery logo glasses, and the restaurant will be featuring a rye Pilsner called Beggars & Theives, a collaboration beer Devils Backbone helped create for the recent Craft Brewers Conference which was held in Washington DC.  (Check out thebeerroad’s last post about that very beer!  Told you it was coming.)  Wednesday, the restaurant will have a three course beer dinner with each course paired with a Brewery Ommegang beer.  Featured beers for the dinner are Ommegang’s Fleur de Houblon, Rare Vos, Three Philosophers, and Gnomegang.  Thursday night, Local Roots will be serving up specially priced Foothills Irish Red 20 oz drafts for just $2.

On Friday, local distributor P.A. Short will be celebrating American Craft Beer Week by featuring several Virginia brews at First Friday’s at Five in downtown Roanoke.  Among the breweries that will be represented are Devils Backbone, Starr Hill, Apocalypse Ale Works, Bold Rock Hard Cider, and most notably, our area’s newest brewery Sunken City Brewing, who is holding their grand opening this weekend, May 10^th and 11^th!  Cheers to them, and good luck.

Other events are likely as the week gets a bit closer.  (If not, and these events aren’t enough, you could simply get out and visit one of our growing numbers of fine area breweries, you know….)  But at any rate, I’ll try to update any new events as Monday nears!  Cheers, all!

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Devils Backbone and DC Brau Beggars & Thieves Rye Lager

Want to get the motor running of most any craft beer fan or geek?  Mention three words: new, beer, and release.  Of course, just how much his or her excitement gets revved up will be solely based upon how worthy the beer promises to be.  The sheer build up around some beers can make them attractive enough to camp out overnight in the freezing cold for.  Others are potentially worth driving across five different state lines, waiting in line for a few hours, and then plunking down a considerable portion of that week’s paycheck for.  (You hope.) These, of course, are for the most highly anticipated and sought after.  Even beer slated for possible year round, flagship style availability usually achieves a slight lift of an eyebrow, and perhaps a mental checkmark, especially if it’s from a local or well known brewery.  But try sticking one additional word into the equation – lager – and watch just how quickly you can snap the timing belt on that craft beer fan’s engine.  Not that there aren’t some tasty styles out there, thanks primarily to those Germans and Czechs.  But let’s face it.  After talking up new beer possibilities to most craft fans and geeks, and then mentioning the “L” word, and you tend to get a reaction akin to opening up your birthday present only to find a neck tie.

While many lagers may not offer the same kind of adventurous, taste bud bending trip that a huge ipa or a barrel aged stout might provide, lagers can offer plenty for the palate.  One style in particular, the one sitting over in the corner unable to talk over the Imperial IPAs in the room, is the venerable Pilsner.  Sure, this is common ground for most craft drinkers – a clean, crisp tasting experience, with plenty of room for the typical style of hops used in them, noble varieties, to shine through.  Light citrus and plenty of floral aromas and tastes, and maybe the slightest current of sweetness perhaps, are all by the book.  Some Pilsners nail the definition to the letter, and are very good while doing so.  But add another layer to the mix, perhaps some rye malt for example, and you begin to add an alternate ending to that book of Pilsners.  And while you may not be able to get the hop head with his face buried in the tulip glass to come up for air for more than a split second, there is reason to give such a beer a try, at the very least.

And such a beer just might be making its way to a couple taps around Roanoke soon.  It’s from a Virginia brewery as well, to add some always welcome homespun flavor.  Created for the recent Craft Brewers Conference that was held in Washington DC, Devils Backbone collaborated with DC Brau to create Beggars & Thieves, a rye lager (the Devils Backbone web site more specifically calls it a rye Pilsner) that was pretty well received as it made the rounds in the capital that week.  I had the opportunity to get a taste while up there, and was pleasantly surprised at first sip.  I jotted down some notes: “clean tasting, lightly hopped, tad sweet, plenty of light bread, rye spiciness, very drinkable”.  Of course, the rye spiciness is an additional layer added to the more typical Pilsner line up of qualities, and it made plenty of difference.  I usually liken the spiciness rye is supposed to add to a beer to the taste white pepper gives food.  It’s a bit hot, but not in an in your face, quick snap sort of way.  At any rate, Beggars  Thieves was all you might want from a lager – a clean, crisp tasting experience, but with enough layers to keep it interesting.  No, it might not be the 1000 IBU IPA that you’ve been on the hunt for, but there’s plenty of room in craft beer for a tasty lager like Beggars & Thieves.  So if you happen to see it soon around town, I recommend giving it a shot.  I promise, there’s no tie in the box.

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Thanks to everyone who responded to today’s earlier post about the Big Lick Beertopia ticket giveaway.  I do have a winner for that ticket, and have contacted them already.  If you didn’t win the ticket, please keep watching the blog, I plan on having another couple giveaways for upcoming area events in the near future.  Thanks for checking out the giveaway and the blog!  Cheers!

-Jeff

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